Poll: Vast majority says Trump should talk with Mueller under oath

An overwhelming majority of Americans believe that President Donald Trump should agree to an interview with special counsel Robert Mueller and that the exchange should be under oath, according to a poll released on Thursday.

Seventy-one percent of 806 adults in the poll said the two should meet, with 82 percent saying the interview should be under oath, according to the poll from Monmouth University.

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While the degree of support for those positions tracked with political affiliation, there was still general agreement, regardless of party affiliation: 85 percent of Democrats, 74 percent of independents and 51 percent of Republicans said the president should speak to Mueller, who is leading the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Even larger majorities said such an interview should be under oath: 93 percent of Democrats, 85 percent of independents and 67 percent of Republicans.

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“Democrats and Republicans alike say the president should sit down with Mueller, although they probably have very different reasons for wanting Trump to do this,” said Patrick Murray, director of the independent Monmouth University Polling Institute.

Seventy-three percent of those polled said they had heard news reports that Trump tried to fire Mueller last summer. Slightly fewer, 58 percent, said they believed those reports to be definitely or probably true. Only 27 percent said the reports were definitely or probably not true.

Asked whether such an action by the president would rise to the level of an attempt to obstruct justice, 41 percent said they thought it would be, while 44 percent said it would be less serious.

Trumpsaid in an impromptu news conference last week that he was “looking forward” to speaking to Mueller’s team. When asked whether he’d do so under oath, Trump said that he would like to but that he would defer to his lawyers’ advice.

Monmouth University polled a national random sample of 806 adults, ages 18 and older. The poll, which was conducted by telephone from Jan. 28 to Jan. 30, has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.